Back in negotiations together -- albeit in a new and different format -- the NBA and players have picked up their talks at the same point they left off when the union ended bargaining and issued a disclaimer of interest a little over a week ago. The starting point is the same 50-50 deal framework the parties last discussed, when the players were dissatisfied with certain system issues.

If a deal is consummated after the weekend and the season starts on Christmas Day, the schedule will be 66 games.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that there is diminished interest among the owners for a schedule of less than 60 games.

Reportedly the NBA would like Derek Fisher, the former union president, to join the negotiations that are set to continue on Friday.

The deeper this lockout goes into litigation, the less I understand the articles describing what's actually happening in the NBA. Like Sheridan or somebody showed up on NBA Talk a few days ago, and me and my buddy turned it up, drowned in a bag of Cool Ranch, and listened to this NBA specialist go off on absolutely nothing that we could understand. Seriously, it was like "what?" "Did you get any of that? "Nope" All I could say was "that's not basketball!!" in a whiney pitched tone "THAT'S NOT BASKETBALL!" It's like the emotion button has been turned off, in the land of where fierce battles were fought. The realm of the NBA has been forced to fade to only myths and legends.

The deeper this lockout goes into litigation, the less I understand the articles describing what's actually happening in the NBA. Like Sheridan or somebody showed up on NBA Talk a few days ago, and me and my buddy turned it up, drowned in a bag of Cool Ranch, and listened to this NBA specialist go off on absolutely nothing that we could understand. Seriously, it was like "what?" "Did you get any of that? "Nope" All I could say was "that's not basketball!!" in a whiney pitched tone "THAT'S NOT BASKETBALL!" It's like the emotion button has been turned off, in the land of where fierce battles were fought. The realm of the NBA has been forced to fade to only myths and legends.

Dude - we had four basketball announcers and analysts filling airtime by talking about hockey.

I saw that, but they were talking college basketball/Football, MLB, NFL as well along with college hockey and the NHL. One thing I love about Jack Armstrong is that the guy knows his sports. Hell if I'm not mistaken they were even talking about movies.

Actually, whatever I saw had Matt, Jack, Leo and David Amber talking about NCAA basketball,Canadians in the NCAA, the national program, Syracuse joining the ACC, NCAA football, the World Series, the NFL, the NHL, etc...

Actually, whatever I saw had Matt, Jack, Leo and David Amber talking about NCAA basketball,Canadians in the NCAA, the national program, Syracuse joining the ACC, NCAA football, the World Series, the NFL, the NHL, etc...

Yeah, they've been talking about everything. I now know that Leo liked the new Jimmy Hoffa movie and disliked Twilight and that his son recently had surgery. Lol

So... it looks like Stern is trying his best to give in on the system issues - he is apparently pitching to the owners the idea of letting the tax teams have the full MLE at their disposal. And if it comes down to it, I'll bet the tax teams get sign and trades back as well. The owners may be able to live with a steeper tax as the only constraining mechanism - so at least if Cuban wants to buy another championship, he'll have to pay a lot more, which helps the low end teams financially at least.

It seems like my expectations have been met - the big sticking point is now the escrow system. The players don't want the owners to be guaranteed that 50% of BRI, but want to be guaranteed 50% themselves. I've done my rant on this before... Anyway, if Stern can use the other system issues as a trade for a robust escrow system, maybe the deal actually gets done.

So... it looks like Stern is trying his best to give in on the system issues - he is apparently pitching to the owners the idea of letting the tax teams have the full MLE at their disposal. And if it comes down to it, I'll bet the tax teams get sign and trades back as well. The owners may be able to live with a steeper tax as the only constraining mechanism - so at least if Cuban wants to buy another championship, he'll have to pay a lot more, which helps the low end teams financially at least.

It seems like my expectations have been met - the big sticking point is now the escrow system. The players don't want the owners to be guaranteed that 50% of BRI, but want to be guaranteed 50% themselves. I've done my rant on this before... Anyway, if Stern can use the other system issues as a trade for a robust escrow system, maybe the deal actually gets done.

Well that's not shocking since they're MLSE employees. But they talk about all sports. Last week they did a half hour on Canadian NCAA players and spent a lot of time talking MLB and their CBA. I actually like that show. Anything with Jack Armstrong is pretty enjoyable imo.

Well that's not shocking since they're MLSE employees. But they talk about all sports. Last week they did a half hour on Canadian NCAA players and spent a lot of time talking MLB and their CBA. I actually like that show. Anything with Jack Armstrong is pretty enjoyable imo.

Watching Jack is cool, and this new format looks much improved over some stuff from the past, but I need to hear him talk NBA.

I saw that, but they were talking college basketball/Football, MLB, NFL as well along with college hockey and the NHL. One thing I love about Jack Armstrong is that the guy knows his sports. Hell if I'm not mistaken they were even talking about movies.

LOL I fliped to the channel once I heard them say NHL, So I didn't catch all of it.

The league should give in on all but the escrow. If the league offers all that with an unlimited escrow, can the players possibly refuse? Even if they can't get the unlimited escrow, why not offer a system where 50% of salaries are held in escrow during the 6 months of season, and the players' share of it gets paid out over the summer, effectively just spreading their paychecks over the entire year.

Higher max contracts will help reduce teams' chances of putting together a Miami Heat again (the higher the better in my opinion). Higher QO's would suck for teams trying to hold onto restricted free agents (as more players will take the big one-year payout and go unrestricted the next year), but that won't be changing any paradigms.

As for the luxury tax teams - let them do whatever they want (full MLE, S+Ts), and remove the repeater tax, but keep the stiff tax, and you should see some leveling of the playing field, and some increased revenue sharing.